MIGRAINE AS A SEQUELA TO CHRONIC LOW-BACK-PAIN

The occurrence of headache as a sequela of low back pain was examined in a sample of chronic pain patients. All patients had low back pain w ithout history of head, neck, or upper back injury or headache onset s imultaneous with the low back pain. Consistent with prior research, he adache was found to be a common concomitant of back pain. In many pati ents, headache was found to have begun or exacerbated markedly after o nset of low back pain. Prevalence of migraine in female patients was s ignificantly higher than the population prevalence for females in the United States; this was not true for male patients. Potential mechanis ms for explaining the high prevalence of migraine following low back p ain are discussed, including increased muscle tension, psychosocial fa ctors, and analgesic overuse.